


What You Love

by likehandlingroses



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-19
Updated: 2019-09-19
Packaged: 2020-10-24 08:09:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20702705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likehandlingroses/pseuds/likehandlingroses
Summary: As Harry already knows, a tremendous amount can happen in seventeen years. But the seventeen years after the war bring him something he once never thought possible: contentment.





	What You Love

**1999**

Harry’s hand hovers over the pastries in the breakroom. He shouldn’t...but then, it  _ is _ Clara’s birthday--

He snatches up a pumpkin pasty, repulsed the utter banality of his own thoughts. 

Ron pops in beside Harry, scooping up a muffin without hesitation.

“Lucky thing we’re on desk duty this week.” 

“Is it?” 

Harry still fights with himself other whether or not he’s simply become another Ministry shill. Too complacent and far too forgiving.

“Hermione’s starting tomorrow,” Ron says, grinning. “Remember?”

And with Hermione joining them for lunch every day, things don’t feel as out of place as they did before. 

* * *

**2000**

The Monument to the Fallen at the Battle of Hogwarts is up within six months of the war ending. 

Harry’s fight to memorialize the Order of the Phoenix is trickier, and in many ways more painful. The old guard is hesitant to legitimize the organization--and even more hesitant to admit their past mistakes. 

But Harry--who still averts his eyes in certain halls of the Ministry, who does anything to avoid being the last to leave for the evening--refuses to relent. 

He almost smiles when he first sees the incredulous looks of the crowds as they notice Sirius’s warm, lively grin. 

* * *

**2001**

Harry collects the letters he finds in Grimmauld Place--under beds, in dresser drawers, even under mattresses--in a box up in his attic. Every so often, he’s tempted to read them: after all, what does it matter to Sirius now?

But each time he opens the box and procures a faded letter off the top, his desire to read the words wanes. 

That they exist at all is the main thing. That Harry or anyone else might someday decide to sit on the attic floor and pore through each and every line justifies their existence. 

He won’t today. But someday, perhaps. 

* * *

**2002**

Ginny flies in a dramatic loop on her broomstick, playing to the crowd as the Harpies conclude another shut-out. 

She could play for England, if she had a mind to. 

“I know that,” she tells Harry. “But international play is a nightmare.”

In any case, she’s a star right where she is. In the sanctuary of the Harpies stadium, Harry has more than once been summarily ignored while Ginny is shouted down for her autograph. 

“Besides,” Ginny says with a coy smile. “It wouldn’t be quite fair for me to run off and become more famous than you, would it?”

* * *

**2003**

Harry still can’t quite believe Dudley said yes to the invitation. Tea or lunch is one thing...an entire wedding--wizarding style-- is quite another. 

But it’s now well into the second hour of the reception, and he’s still here, making passable conversation with Oliver. 

“Alright?” Harry asks, joining their table. 

Dudley nods, but Oliver leans forward in his seat, looking manic.

“He suggested swimming for conditioning,” he says, as if he’s just handed Harry vital trade secrets. “No one’s doing that! I’m telling Reynolds on Monday...” 

Harry shoots Dudley a knowing grin, and Dudley ducks his head with a laugh.   
  


* * *

**2004**

“--we’re here with Harry Potter, who has brought along a very special guest to the program. Harry, would you please introduce us to this lovely fellow who is currently eating his own fist?”

“Thanks, Lee. I have James Sirius Potter with me today, making his airwaves debut.”

“I was talking to James before the show...he was just babbling away.”

“Well, he gets very excited sometimes.”

“Is that the best part of being a dad?”

“No, the best part is he’s got this tiny little nose, and you can just...boop it whenever you want.”

“You heard it here first!”

* * *

  
**2005**

Percy tosses the agenda on Harry’s desk. “They’ve put it on after all.”

Harry scans the list in disbelief. The proposed legislation to officially close the Ministry’s Werewolf Registry and reopen its services under the umbrella of St. Mungo’s would be heard by the Wizengamot a week from Tuesday. 

“But how--? We’ve been trying for months to get it in front of them....”

Percy smiles, rolling his shoulders back. “Well, I’ve been putting in words with some of the more established members...I don’t know if that helped at all…”

Harry laughs, shaking his head. 

“We both know it did.” 

* * *

**2006**

“He has the prettiest eyes,” Mrs. Weasley coos over Al, bouncing him on her knee as he gazes up at her intently. “Arthur, just look at his eyes! Aren’t they stunning?”

Ever the doting grandfather, Mr. Weasley drops down beside his wife, eagerly agreeing that he’s “glorious,” before reaching out a finger for Al to grasp in his fist. 

“They’re just like his daddy’s,” Mrs. Weasley says, smiling at Harry. She’s not the first to mention how much Al looks like him. 

It makes Harry all the more grateful that Al won’t ever need to wish for love or family. 

* * *

**2007**

“Can you help me, Harry?” Teddy doesn’t normally bring Andromeda’s schoolwork over to Harry’s, but today he’s already kneeling at the coffee table, quill and parchment in hand.

“Well, I can try,” Harry says, sitting down beside him. “But if it’s division again…”

“No, none of that!” Teddy says with a grimace. “I’m learning about persuasive essays now, and Gran says if I write a _ very _ good one, we might be able to get a cat!”

“A cat? Well, that’s serious business, isn’t it? We’ll have to go about it carefully…”

And with Harry’s help, Teddy wins his new cat. 

* * *

**2008**

“Skeeter will be poking her head in where it doesn’t belong once I’m gone,” Elphias Doge says, pressing a bundle of letters at Ginny, his wizened face beaming. “And what do I care what anyone says, really? Only I detest the woman, and if you got the story out first...oh, the look on her face!”

The ink on some of the letters has almost faded, but the most important piece remains. The valedictions: effusive, undeniably romantic...with “Albus” signing his name to all of them. 

“It’ll be out before she’s decided which stone to turn over first,” Harry promises. 

* * *

**2009**

“Daddy!” Alice Dursley pulls on Dudley’s hand as the Potters gather at the door. “The present!”

“Yes, right! Before you go…” Dudley hastens back through the house, emerging with a carefully wrapped package. 

“Alice helped me with everything…” Dudley presses it into Harry’s hands. “Even the paper--”

“--and the bow!” 

“And the bow.” Dudley smiles in the face of Harry’s bemusement. “For Lily’s birthday next week. I’ve meant to get the dates straight for years...but I’ve got this calendar on my phone now, and...well, anyway. I’ll remember now.”

Lily hugs her teddy from “Duh-dee” the whole way home.

* * *

**2010**

“D’you suppose they might only let me on the team because they feel sorry for me?” Teddy asks as he and Harry settle on the grass. 

“Of course not.” Harry shades his eyes from the sun before looking off into the distance. Ginny is still trying to teach Albus how to mount his training broom…

“What about because you’re my godfather?”

Harry claps Teddy on the shoulder. “Listen: if you make it, it’ll be you’ve got a great arm and a sharp eye.”

“You really think so?”

“I really do.” 

Teddy beams at Harry before lying back on the grass. 

* * *

**2011**

“Oh, she’s beautiful--hi, Harry!”

Despite Parvati and Hermione’s smiles, Harry feels as if he’s intruded. He’s used to finding Hermione poring over something or other when he enters her office: she even spends her lunch hour wrestling through her Beedle translations. 

“Padma’s baby came Saturday!” Hermione explains. 

“I have pictures!” 

Harry hasn’t considered before that Hermione’s move from Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures might have been motivated by something other than her career progression. 

Now that he thinks of it, he understands why Hermione’s joined half of the DA in Magical Law Enforcement. 

They make the work more worthwhile. 

* * *

**2012**

“No! No kids behind the bar,” Hannah good-naturedly prods James out from behind the counter at the Leaky Cauldron.

“Even me?” James says, fixing Hannah with a doe-eyed stare.

“ _ Especially _ you,” Harry quips, patting the stool next to him as Hannah fixes James a consolation soft drink. “Sorry about that, Hannah…”

“Oh, I don’t mind!” Hannah pauses to tie back her hair with a colorful ribbon. “Only if the wrong person comes in and I’ve got an eight year old with his paws on the firewhisky…”

“What’s firewhisky taste like?” James asks.

“You’d hate it,” Hannah and Harry both say. 

* * *

**2013**

“--so that’s where we put all our files for uhm...anything that needs filing.” Harry taps the filing cabinet next to his desk, looking into his nieces' rapt faces. Molly and Lucy are with Percy for the day, and “Uncle Harry’s work” is a key portion of their tour. 

Harry privately thinks nothing could be duller for two little girls than exploring different people’s desks. 

“Does it ever get full?” Molly asks.

“Er--sometimes.”

“So you get a new one?” Lucy’s eyes are wide as she scans the wall, perhaps picturing mountains of cabinets. 

“Sometimes. Mostly we just toss things.”

“Wow!” 

* * *

**2014**

“He’s going to do it!” Fleur grips Harry’s shoulder from her seat behind him as the crowd roars and Viktor closes in on the Snitch. “He has to, after all this time, he--YES!”

Harry hugs her first as their box cheers the Bulgarian victory. Fleur apologizes for the tears she’s burst into, but Harry’s own eyes are stinging. 

Viktor throws his arms around both of them upon landing in the VIP box, tears still running down his cheeks. 

“He would be so proud,” Fleur says, calling Cedric to mind so powerfully that they might have been children fighting dragons again. 

* * *

**2015**

“And this one doesn’t like parties because she’s shy…” Lily sets her stuffed rabbit in front of Luna. Harry’s warned Luna about Lily’s “tea parties”--how they involve more profiling of stuffed animals than tea. 

“Well, some people are like that, aren’t they?” Luna says agreeably. 

“Yes,” Lily agrees. “And this one--she’s  _ so _ funny, but she doesn’t eat  _ anything _ green.”

“Not even green sweets?”

“No!” Lily says conspiratorially, whereupon Luna puts on a shocked expression. 

“But how does she get her vitamins?”

“Uhm...carrots and the sun, I think!” 

“Oh, well, that’s alright, then,” Luna says before smiling at Harry. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! This fic is inspired by Taylor Swift's song "Daylight."


End file.
